Training Tutorial 4

Tutorial 4: Military time, stardates, and how to address officers

MILITARY TIME

Our group uses military time. It's a simple concept, but one that can take a little getting used to. Here's a quick example: 6:23am is written 0623 hours. For AM times, just add a “0” at the beginning.

Instead of the clock resetting at 1pm, it continues to count up. 1pm becomes 1300, 2pm becomes 1400, and so on. An easy way to calculate this is to take any PM time and add 12 to the number. So, 6pm would be 6+12=1800 hours. At midnight, the clock starts over at Zero-hour: 0000 hours.

STARDATES

The Star Trek universe uses a special dating system, due to the fact that everyone is moving around the galaxy at different times of the night and day. Our calendar is based on the Earth moving around the sun, but not everyone in Starfleet comes from Earth. So we use a system called "stardates."

On the show, stardates were usually selected arbitrarily as a series "start value" and an "end value," so they didn't really mean anything. For our purposes, though, we need a way to keep track of everything that's happening In Character. You will be glad to hear that the In Character Stardate system is very simple. The format of our stardates is as follows:

yyyymm.dd

Where:

yyyy = The current In Character year

mm = The current REAL month

dd = The current REAL date

Meaning...:

The current REAL date is simply the current date. For example, if today is the 18th day of the month, the number you'd put in for "dd" would be 18. Note that the date portion is always two digits, so the 4th of the month would be 04.

The current REAL month is a two digit number representing the real month. If it is January, the number is 01, in February is 02, and so on.

The current In Character year is figured by adding 377 to the actual current year. So, in the year 2000, we added 377 to create a In Character year of 2377. In 2014, we added 377 to create an In Character year of 2391.

When you add all these parts together, you have a stardate. Let's try one: June 15th, 2004 would become 238106.15. And the time, if it's 6:30 p.m.: 238106.15 – 1830h.

FORMS OF ADDRESS AND RANKS

The appropriate formal forms of address are as follows:

At all times, use of the rank and last/only name of the officer is appropriate, AS IS the rank alone. For example:

Commander Marlet

Commander

However, keep in mind that when speaking a rank, you use it's abbreviate form. So, if you're asking Lieutenant Junior Grade Joe Bloggs to come to the bridge, you'd say: "Lieutenant Bloggs to the bridge." This works similarly with flag ranks. "FltAdml. Wolf" becomes "Admiral Wolf" when spoken. In dialog, spell out the ranks. Do not use “Lt. Bloggs” when in dialog, use “Lieutenant Bloggs.”

When speaking to an officer of lower rank, use the rank, and last/only name, OR the last name alone, OR the rank alone, OR "mister". (Yes, you can call a female officer "mister.") For example:

Ensign Kyle

Kyle

Ensign

Mister Kyle

When speaking to a Doctor, call them by their rank, or call them "Doctor," followed by their last/only name. For example:

Commander McReedy

Doctor McReedy

Doctor

StarFleet officers generally only call others by their first names while off duty, or when they're alone together and regulations aren't important. Be careful if you're speaking to an officer of higher rank, at any time!

RANKS

There are many ranks one can ascend through in our group. Here's a list of them, with their abbreviations:

PROMOTIONS

Once you have completed training and are posted to a ship, you are automatically promoted to the rank of Ensign. At the discretion of your commanding officer, you can rise in rank to Lieutenant Commander. To become a Commander or Captain, you must take both a written and a practical exam, which is administered by a friendly member of the community staff. You must also receive a recommendation that you are prepared for promotion.

All ranks above Lieutenant Commander are presented at the discretion of the Captains and Executive Councils.